Sermon Tone Analysis

Jesus not only frees us from our sins but also provided us a path to encounter the fullness of God.

INTRODUCTON

INTRODUCTON

Welcome

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Series: Pathways to Freedom

Guided

by the ethos of our value of freedom

We are liberated through the person and work of Jesus to unceasingly experience the Spirit’s transformative power and presence, and as a distinct people marked by this freedom, we delight to behold and encounter the face of God as the Kingdom breaks in among us.

We are liberated through the person and work of Jesus to unceasingly experience the Spirit’s transformative power and presence, and as a distinct people marked by this freedom, we delight to behold and encounter the face of God as the Kingdom breaks in among us.

Explored

Exploring

Week 1: Free for Freedom

MAIN POINT: As children of God, we believe that Jesus not only frees us from our sins but also provided us a path to encounter the fullness of God with regularity, made us to operate in concert with the Holy Spirit, & experience His Kingdom breaking in among us.

Personal renovation 

Week 2: Temples of the Holy Spirit

MAIN POINT: As children of God, we believe that Jesus not only frees us from our sins but also provided us a path to encounter the fullness of God with regularity, made us to operate in concert with the Holy Spirit, & experience His Kingdom breaking in among us.

Personal renovation 

Week 3: Live by the Spirit

Main Point

As children of God, we believe that Jesus not only frees us from our sins but also provided us a path to encounter the fullness of God with regularity, made us to operate in concert with the Holy Spirit, & experience His Kingdom breaking in among us.

Personal renovation 

As children of God, we believe that Jesus not only frees us from our sins, but also provided us a path to encounter the fullness of God.

Stand As I Read

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

- (ESV)

Prayer

Holy God - in this precious hour, we pause and gather to hear your word - to do so, we break from our work responsibilities and from our play fantasies; we move from our fears that overwhelm and from our ambitions that are too strong.

Free us in these moments from every distraction, that we may focus to listen, that we may hear, that we may change.

Amen.

That we may change Holy God - in this precious hour, we pause and gather to hear your word - to do so, we break from our work responsibilities and from our play fantasies; we move from our fears that overwhelm and from our ambitions that are too strong.

Free us in these moments from every distraction, that we may focus to listen, that we may hear, that we may change.

Amen.

Pretoria, South Africa/August 1996

Walter Brueggemann.

Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth: Prayers of Walter Brueggemann (Kindle Location 410).

Kindle Edition.

YOLK OF SLAVERY

was a letter written sometime between A.D. 48 and 55, by Paul, to a group of churches in Galatia, a region of present-day Turkey.

Paul’s letter to the Galatians was addressed to a group of churches in Galatia, a region of present-day Turkey.

Paul had preached the gospel in these churches.

He wrote to counter those who taught that Christians must be circumcised in order to be accepted by God.

Paul began with a defense of his apostolic authority (chs.

1–2), then made it clear that all believers, Jew and Gentile alike, enjoy complete salvation in Christ (chs.

3–4).

In chapters 5–6 Paul showed how the gospel of grace leads to true freedom and godly living.

Perhaps the central message of Galatians is “a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ” (2:16).

Paul wrote this letter sometime between A.D. 48 and 55.

Paul had preached the gospel in these churches.

Here, he is writing to counter those who taught that Christians must be circumcised in order to be accepted by God.

Paul’s letter to the Galatians was addressed to a group of churches in Galatia, a region of present-day Turkey.

Paul had preached the gospel in these churches.

He wrote to counter those who taught that Christians must be circumcised in order to be accepted by God.

Paul began with a defense of his apostolic authority (chs.

1–2), then made it clear that all believers, Jew and Gentile alike, enjoy complete salvation in Christ (chs.

3–4).

In chapters 5–6 Paul showed how the gospel of grace leads to true freedom and godly living.

Perhaps the central message of Galatians is “a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ” (2:16).

Paul wrote this letter sometime between A.D. 48 and 55.

Judaizers

Judaizers - Paul is challenging the pathway of the past

Christian Jews attempted to impose the Jewish way of life on gentile Christians.

The issue that concerns Paul is not simply whether or not a person follows the Jewish way of life, but whether one thinks that salvation is attained by them

“Under the Law”

21 Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? - (ESV)

The Law refers to

The OT in general,

The law means variously the OT in general, the Torah (especially the Pentateuch or first five books of the Bible), the Ten Commandments or the several codes of conduct that identified Israel as set apart and in covenantal relationship with God.

But also, The Torah ( first five books of the Bible)

The Ten Commandments (Ex & Duet)

the Ten Commandments or the several codes of conduct that identified Israel as set apart

In covenantal relationship with God.

in covenantal relationship with God.

Jesus summarized the law with two commandments: to love God with heart, soul, mind and strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself.

Paul declares that the law is fulfilled in Jesus, who sets humans free from the law’s penalty of death.

Legalism

Systems of Morality

Systems of Morality breed - Legalism is the attitude that identifies morality with the strict observance of laws or that views adherence to moral codes as defining the boundaries of a community.

Religious legalism focuses on obedience to laws or moral codes based on the (misguided) assumption that such obedience is a means of gaining divine favor.

The attitude that identifies morality with the strict observance of laws as defining the boundaries of a community.

Religious Morality

Religious legalism focuses on obedience to laws or moral codes based on the (misguided) assumption that such obedience is a means of gaining divine favor.

The Law of the Spirit

For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do.

By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

- (ESV)

The Spirit

spirit refers to life itself, to the life principle and above all to God as the source and giver of life.

The Holy Spirit is the third person of the one triune God and as such is the Life Giver.

Stand Firm in Freedom

5 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. 

5 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

The Christian freedom he describes is freedom of conscience, freedom from the tyranny of the law, the dreadful struggle to keep the law, with a view to winning the favour of God.

It is the freedom of acceptance with God and of access to God through Christ.

The Christian freedom he describes is freedom of conscience, freedom from the tyranny of the law, the dreadful struggle to keep the law.

This freedom is transformational, not simply reformational

The gospel transforms you from the inside out.

The gospel of Jesus transforms you from the inside out.

Gospel transformation is different than Moral reformation.

Bent Iron - Richard Lovelace